Trust
by Khanlusa
Summary: Post-Loyalties - Working to find her place in the galaxy, K'Surda embraces her role as a bounty hunter and focuses on looking ahead rather than miring in mistakes made. She returns from one particular job having brushed with death and finds she isn't the only one who's been thinking of the future.
1. Trust

**Another instance of me forgetting to upload something here after getting it on AO3, my apologies.**

 **As noted in the summary, this is set after "Loyalties" which explains why/how this situation has come about.**

* * *

Thunder rumbled on the horizon and K'Surda swallowed a swell of discomfort, trying to ignore the dull scrape of remembered pain across her shoulders and the centre of her chest. Like the blunted claws of vermin under her skin sluggishly trying to get out.

Just when she thought she might be getting used to the weather. The lightning itself wasn't overhead and she'd be indoors soon at least. Rain ran off the slopes and edges of her cloak, dripping off the hood. It left very little clear beyond the orange slits of her mask, obscuring her identity to all but those who knew her secrets.

To everyone else she was 'Wraid,' a bounty hunter of some renown and plenty of rumours. It was useful to adopt a persona when she was working and it put another layer of security between her lives, keeping those she cared about as safe as she could.

It really did feel like she was living more than one life at this point but being with her crew didn't feel like the right path anymore. Something had clicked out of place there, like it wasn't where she was meant to be.

Scourge and HK were the only ones who really knew, _understood_.

All she could really hope for was that her choices wouldn't get the crew hurt or worse, somehow, and part of her knew that was a fanciful thought.

Puddles splashed underfoot and she sighed, trying to focus outwards.

Once, what felt like a lifetime ago, she'd walked into Kaas City as an aggressor, cutting a swathe until she reached Vitiate. It was strange the first time she walked through without hostility but her growling familiarity with its streets, spires and dour climate had begun to bleed the discomfort away.

A twinge of lingering pain crossed her face and K'Surda winced beneath the protective layer. Spending two weeks of playing cat and mouse with an infuriatingly tenacious target in a _swamp_ wasn't how she'd intended this job to go. The time spent away would have been enough irritation were it not for the shrapnel he nearly buried in her skull.

It started off well, they managed to find and disable his ship, while their own small and stealthy vessel remained locked down and hidden. But then he showed them just how creative he could get under pressure and K'Surda found herself with a broken mask and bits of metal stuck in her flesh.

That first strike bought him some time to run nowhere good enough while she dealt with her face, which was aggravating enough on its own without the environment working against her ability to avoid infection, and then he had the kriffing _temerity_ to drag the encounter out for a week and a half.

By the end of it she'd had very little in the way of sympathy. HK would be cleaning gunk and reed bits out of his chassis for days, but he was at least happy with their target's deletion. She managed to throw him into his own traps, providing an explosively decisive finish to the job.

' _Appraisal: Irony always gives deletion a spark of beauty, Master, very well done.'_

Another rumble of thunder brought K'Surda back to herself and she blinked, noticing where she was. It felt like months had blurred by for her to have walked to the right place without even thinking about it, as if the directions were branded into the bones of her legs. Forgetting details wouldn't do her any favours and she didn't _want_ to forget, not now when everything seemed to be moving forward. She wasn't stuck or sinking.

When Lana contacted her the first time, she'd held her breath and braced for rejection, waiting for that particular road in her life to close for good. She couldn't put her relief into words when she was given a task instead, a 'trial run' as it were. She was given the necessary information to hunt down a criminal who'd fled to neutral space and carried it out promptly with reinforced determination.

A fairly quick job, all things considered.

Most of the targets were criminal types, their actions laid bare for her so she understood why they were chosen. Rarer were the political targets, figures that made things worse and could be dealt with without causing too large a ripple. They couldn't afford attention, not with the state everything was in.

A whip of wind lashed the rain down harder on her and K'Surda hunched her shoulders at the pressure. Stalling, she was _stalling_ when she could be indoors where it was warmer, dryer, all around _nicer_.

The access panel lit up at her prompting and after a moment's wait she was allowed inside, stepping out of the rain and into a quiet hallway. She slipped off her cloak and chook it free of water, managing to leave most of it outside before she folded it over her arm and the door shut behind her.

A less aware person might have taken the relative silence and lack of visible eyes to mean the place was open to attack, but she knew better. The only reason she was stepping into the lift with working legs was because she was expected, _welcomed_ , not for lacking security.

Some apprehension coiled inside her, leaning against the back wall of the lift, as she wondered how Lana might react.

There was a tension to their interactions that she couldn't articulate and it had grown worse since she started handing in her reports face to face. She didn't know how to act on any of it, stuck for words when a pause between them would fill with a fragile sort of silence, tenuous, just like the concept of 'them.'

K'Surda sighed, trying to push the thought out of her mind. Business, work, _targets,_ that's what she was here for. Now, if she could just make herself believe that she might not feel so restless.

The doors opened out onto another hall, all the same grey and bordering on severe design she found in most of the city's buildings. She glanced either way, silently noting the presence of guards as usual. Tech may have kept them out of sight but she could feel them like background noise compared to Lana, now that she was closer.

She took a steadying breath and walked to her left, boots quietly scuffing against the carpet. Two doors down and she came to the one she actually wanted, another access panel to fiddle with and wait on for what felt like quite a lot longer than it actually was, until the door slid open.

'Prepared' was never a word K'Surda felt she'd be able to use when it came to Lana, not when time and separation was involved. Those yellow eyes settled on her and she immediately felt like her armour was useless, just for a scant few moments, before she swallowed and steeled herself. It was becoming harder to do so, however, and she tried not to think about how nice it was seeing Lana out of her armour. This time it was a simple back top that hugged her neck and leggings.

Work, she was here for _work._

"Evening." K'Surda bowed her head politely as she spoke, keeping the arm bearing her cloak folded at her waist.

Lana nodded in return and gestured for her to come in, shutting the door behind her once she was out of the hall. The change was almost immediate and always welcome, Lana's apartment just appeared warmer than the rest of the building even if it didn't step that far away from austere design. It helped K'Surda relax a little after walking through the city.

She kept a hold of her cloak and followed Lana down the hallway, passed her living room and into her study. An orderly room lacking in clutter, most of her work came through here when she wasn't at HQ.

"Did he give you trouble?" Lana asked neutrally, settling at her desk. There was a strained undertone to her voice but K'Surda let it slide for now in favour of being prompt. "A little, but nothing I couldn't handle," she said, hoping her smile was clear. It made the pain flare and she tried to ignore it and relax her face without agitating herself again. "Purged the data from his ship too, so now it's just a slowly sinking and completely useless hunk of parts. He didn't get an opening to hide any of it elsewhere, so-" She paused to dig a datadrive out of a belt pouch, holding it up. "Only copy's on here now."

Lana held her hand out and she passed it over, nodding. A few moments and she brought everything up on her terminal, eyeing it briefly. "Seems to be everything," she murmured, half to herself. Her lips thinned in a pensive look and she turned her gaze back to K'Surda, frowning lightly. "Only a little?"

She was probably wondering why the mask hadn't come off. K'Surda didn't make a habit of keeping it on once she was in the apartment, it felt too easy to keep distance between them if she wore something unmoving, expressionless.

Sighing, she hunched her shoulders in reluctance. "Like I said, nothing I couldn't handle. He just got desperate and creative is all." She shrugged, adding with half-hearted sarcasm, "always a winning combination in an opponent."

Lana's expression didn't change as she simply watched K'Surda like she was trying to work something out just by staring at her. But she didn't make K'Surda wait all that long to reveal her thoughts as she sighed and got up from her desk. "You have a higher threshold than most for what you can 'handle,' K'Surda," she said gently, some caution entering her voice. "What happened?"

She couldn't dance around it with those eyes on her and if she was honest with herself, she didn't really want to. Maybe she'd get a clearer indication of where they stood, either way.

With another quiet sigh, K'Surda dropped her cloak at her feet so she could reach back and loosen the seals of her mask. They split at her familiar prompting and she pulled it away until she felt the air touch her neck and face, dark hair tumbling down between her shoulders in a tail lower than she usually kept it.

She heard the small intake of breath before she saw Lana's expression, busily attaching the flexible mask to her belt via a latch, and looked up to find Lana's frown had deepened. There was a tightness to her jaw and a momentary hardness to her eyes that made guilt flare up in K'Surda's belly.

The lines were still angry looking things that crossed her face, one from hairline to chin over her right eye, the other from one cheek to the other, crossing the bridge of her nose and intersecting just below her right eye. How she didn't lose the blasted thing she was still questioning, it'd been a startling moment as red flooded her vision on that side and coupled with the pain she almost panicked. She was able to keep it clean and got it checked before she returned, but a week's rough time left it looking less than comfortable.

She offered a sheepish smile, even if doing so caused half her face to protest again. Stars, _speaking_ was making it sting already, since the damn cuts went right over her lips to get to her chin, but she wasn't about to appear cowed by the experience and propped her hands on her hips, shrugging. "It's not that bad. I mean, he's in the like five pieces now, so I definitely got him back for this," she said, pushing her smile into a little grin.

Lana blinked and looked directly at her instead of focusing on the marks, but the concern didn't fade. She walked around her desk until she was just a few steps away, slowly wringing her hands. "May I?" she asked, eyes switching back to the wounds.

A minor flutter passed through her and K'Surda took longer than she meant to react. She cleared her throat and simply nodded, lowering her head.

Lana nodded in return and stepped closer, lifting her hands to K'Surda's face. Her palms were warm and her touch light, afraid of agitating the wound any further and causing harm. "Hold still a moment," she murmured.

K'Surda hummed in acknowledgement, trying not to pay attention to the lack of distance or how pleasant it was to be held, and closed her eyes. She couldn't help her intake of breath as she felt Lana weave the Force into action, the sting and lingering, quiet burn of pain in her flesh slowly ebbing like infection draining from an ill wound.

She let herself sink into the sensation, focusing on the gentle pressure of Lana's fingertips more so. The touch was a rare thing, tied into the tension between them, and she'd wanted to bridge the gap before now without a single idea as to she should go about that. She'd always second guessed herself, wondering if this or that was the right way to do it.

Maybe it was a good thing he managed to hit her.

When the sensation faded K'Surda swallowed the little whine in her throat, not wanting it to leave. "There," Lana spoke quietly, her tone almost distracted. "It should hurt less now." Reluctance coloured her voice further and when her hands didn't leave, K'Surda opened her eyes.

Lana felt closer somehow, her eyes lidded and certainly not paying attention the cuts anymore, and K'Surda swallowed again. Nerves bundled up in her stomach and she wet her lips, trying to think of something to say, only for Lana to scatter her thoughts with a kiss.

For a few seconds her mind went blank, offering up nothing in the way of useful reactions as it tried to process what was happening alongside the months of uncertainty.

Her pause certainly gave the wrong impression and worry wormed against her, not her own feeling but Lana's as she pulled away, brow creasing. She was still holding up a wall, albeit a shaky one at this point. "I…" she started, her grip loosening, an apology on the tip of her tongue.

K'Surda closed the gap, returning the kiss with a smile curling the corners of her lips and the worry melted out of Lana. She kept her hold on K'Surda, pressing against her with renewed boldness as heat flared between them and sent thrills right through K'Surda, making her feel short of breath.

The wall finally crumbled and K'Surda exhaled sharply at the sudden outpouring of emotions bundled up and held close like terrible secrets, kept in fear of the unknown. It seared into her heart and she all but growled, hands sliding around Lana's waist and holding her close.

She couldn't _stand_ the thought of feeling like that again, of _Lana_ having to feel like that again.

They parted for air and little more, gasps of breath scattering across K'Surda's cheeks before they came together again, harder, hungrier. Too many nights were exercises in frustration and futility, trying to forget their painfully brief moment together on Yavin when her mind so delighted in reminding her of it. This real contact was almost too much and she tried to rein herself in, if not for Lana's tongue making her head swim.

Growling, K'Surda slipped her hands down to Lana's hips and backside, causing Lana to all but jump on her, legs hooking around her hips as K'Surda caught her weight, as if she'd been _waiting_ for a prompt. K'Surda shifted her feet to right herself just as soon as she felt unbalanced, chuckling in amusement and breaking away from Lana as a result.

She was quickly caught off guard as Lana found her throat, lips and teeth easily drawing a low moan from her. _Stars_ , did Lana remember the reaction that got before? Feeling weak in the knees K'Surda blinked and tried to maintain some sort of clarity. She turned and walked to the corner couch, easily carrying Lana and kneeling as she set her down.

Lana's hands drew up her neck, thumbs pressing under her chin, and she looked up to find herself momentarily ensnared. Lana all but loomed over her, hair shadowing her face and eyes intense, _gleaming_ even, and K'Surda struggled to remember how she had gone even a moment without this beautiful woman.

Their lips met in a kiss that made her thoughts swirl and dissolve, and she exhaled through her nose at the needy shiver that settled in the pit of her belly, reminding her exactly how long it'd been.

Another growl slipped out of her throat and K'Surda pressed forwards onto the couch, her knee coming to rest between Lana's thighs. That got her a hiss of breath and hands tightening on the back of her neck, and she couldn't help but grin and bow her head to Lana's throat, nipping at the hollow of it.

Their hands might've roamed with increasing abandon, but the effect was somewhat lost on K'Surda, still wearing most of her hunting gear. Not so with Lana and K'Surda most definitely enjoyed exploiting the comparatively thinner clothing she wore, making Lana squirm and arch into her touch. She could ignore how constricting her armour was beginning to feel for now.

She shifted closer, pressing her knee harder, and Lana groaned lowly, biting her lip as she rocked her hips. "K'Surda," she gasped quietly, somewhat breathless. She moved one of her hands down K'Surda's right arm, seeking the latches that kept her gauntlet in place with a telling sense of urgency. She could feel it herself, like it was simmering under her own skin.

K'Surda pulled away just enough to reach better, deftly loosening the latches and working her gauntlets off until her hands were bare.

She had a second to breathe before Lana pulled her back down for another kiss that threatened to devour her senses and tried to pay attention to what she was doing. She slid her hands up Lana's thighs to her hips and ever upwards, earning a pleased sigh against her lips when her fingers found the waistband. She slipped one hand under and down to a moaned 'yes' and an eager rolling of hips, grinning as she bowed her head to Lana's neck once more. She slipped her other arm up and around Lana to support her, forearm and hand braced against the couch behind her.

Lana groaned and wrapped her arms around K'Surda's shoulders, head tilting back to expose her throat of which K'Surda took advantage, eager to leave at least one mark. Her fingertips quickly became slick, finding points that made Lana's breath hitch and caused her hips to jerk or writhe into K'Surda's touch.

Her grazing teeth prompted a low, breathless groan from Lana and she curled her hand, slipping two fingers inside to a _delightfully_ pleased noise. Hazy as her thoughts were K'Surda managed to fixate on the motion of her hand and how Lana responded, pulling free of that welcoming heat only to delve back in. On each withdrawal and return she would rock the heel of her palm against Lana, winding up the tension in her core.

K'Surda smirked to herself and kissed Lana's throat just as she pressed in a touch forcefully, feeling it vibrate with a groan against her lips. Lana grasped her tighter and tried to pull her closer, flexing her hips to try and match K'Surda's rhythm. She drew her legs up part way as if to wrap them around K'Surda's hips and shuddered at another bite to her neck, hissing out a string of words K'Surda couldn't decipher.

That simmering urgency was beginning to boil, tension coiling tighter and tighter with every thrust and grind, and K'Surda swallowed thickly, trying to focus. She sank her fingers in deep and pressed her thumb against Lana's clit, rubbing in quick, rough circles until the tension snapped against her. Lana arched with a deep, throaty cry, nails digging against K'Surda's neck and armour as she shook, and K'Surda simply smiled a warm, sly smile as she slowed the motion of her hand and waited for the aftershocks to fade.

When Lana relaxed K'Surda kissed her neck once more and pulled her hand free, knuckles ghosting Lana's abdomen. She sat up and smirked once Lana's eyes fluttered open. Her cheeks were flushed and her chest heaved still as she tried to catch her breath back, but she smiled dryly at the look K'Surda was giving her and pulled her in for a quick, breathless kiss. "You could _try_ not to look so smug," she murmured, her voice a touch heavy and hoarse.

K'Surda chuckled softly and propped her brow against Lana's. "I've missed you," she whispered, reassured that her meaning was clear by the knowing smile Lana gave. She slid her hands to K'Surda's jaw and brought them together for a slower, deeper kiss than the last, sending a tremor through K'Surda and touching on yet to be satiated needs. It felt as if Lana drank her in, so easily muddling her senses and making it hard to stay coherent, but part of her put that down to other things.

They broke apart for air and K'Surda swallowed, shifting uncomfortably in her gear. Amusement and sympathy coloured the smile on Lana's face and she leaned in close, looping her arms around K'Surda's neck. "I rather doubt my legs at the moment, but I would like to continue," she murmured into her ear. "If you would be so kind as to move us to my room?"

K'Surda grinned and deftly gathered Lana into her arms, for once looking forward to an evening on this moody world.

* * *

 **There'll be a small bonus scene added Soon™**


	2. Bonus Scene

**Less humorous than the addition to "Loyalties" but nonetheless something of import.**

* * *

The light all but blinded her and she hastily adjusted it until it was easier on her eyes, blinking the sleep away. The air kissed her skin with chills and she ran a hand through her hair, trying not to pay any mind to the twinge of sore muscles throughout her body. Nothing painful, but certainly a reminder of the very thing she was _attempting_ to not think about very hard.

Lana sighed and leaned back against the fresher door, rubbing at her face. When she slipped out of bed K'Surda sleepily tried to reach for her, but she was far from conscious and a pillow seemed to placate her enough to avoid waking up entirely.

This was ridiculous.

She pushed away from the door and moved to wash her face, trying to sort through her thoughts and clear away anything she couldn't deal with right then and there for later.

Her fingertips brushed an unintentional line down the right side of her face and a ghost of a sensation shot through her. Lana held her breath, trying to reassert her thoughts around the memory of waking up feeling distressed, discomfort like a dull, ebbing scrape welling in crossed lines on her face. That happened over a week ago and the feeling had faded after a few minutes.

 _Oh._

It clicked into place without a second's hesitation and she straightened, peering at herself in the mirror with her fingertips on her chin. Had it really been…? She wanted to ignore it, deny it, insist to herself that she had more control than that and perhaps salvage some sense of order. But she knew it was much too late for that.

Order and restraint had been fleeting ideas when she'd held K'Surda and watched her relax into her grasp, still so _trusting_ of her, and stars how K'Surda responded to her…

She swallowed and looked at the door, wrestling to keep her thoughts somewhere civil. It certainly removed a weight from her mind to know that K'Surda's feelings hadn't changed at all, but neither had her own, she found.

She opened the door, shutting off the light as she stepped out, and paused upon seeing K'Surda curled in her bed. Her long legs were caught up in the sheets and her hair spilled out behind her like ink, loosened from the tail she often kept it tamed with. The pillow tightly clutched to her chest kept Vitiate's mark hidden, but not the other, far more natural scars dotting her body. Not the new, soon-to-form one that crossed her face.

How many times had this wayward knight of hers come close to death?

Knight. _Knight._ She mouthed the word to herself, turning it over in her mind again and again. There was a jedi sleeping in her bed, one who still had formal ties to the Order, to the Republic, and she was in love with her regardless.

Lana slowly pushed a hand through her hair, unease and other conflicting emotions bubbling up inside her.

K'Surda wasn't exactly a stellar example of a jedi, there were _some_ concerns she didn't need to think about thanks to that, but all the same.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, moving closer to the bed and letting her eyes fixate on the healing lines on K'Surda's face.

Everything felt like it was moving towards a critical point, one problem after the next. The tension would break eventually and what happened after that? Part of her didn't want to consider it. She had to, but right now all she could think about was K'Surda never coming back at all.

If that shrapnel had gone deeper, if it had hit at a different angle, a different area…

Lana frowned and climbed back into bed, slipping under the covers. The pillow was easy to remove and K'Surda mumbled something half-asleep, stirring. Lana gently hushed her and cuddled into her arms, to which K'Surda just mumbled again and hugged her close, relaxing once more.

It didn't take long at all for Lana to fall asleep herself.


End file.
